Notice that what comes does go. When we return and stay connected to our life, to our breath, to our body, we let things come and go. None of these things, including our own thoughts, our own feelings, belong to us. They seem to come from the situation on this moment, and then they pass away, and something else comes. And you let go of that.

As soon as we grasp something, as soon as we try to possess it and problem-solve, there is a quality of dissatisfaction or painfulness. But when we are willing to let something arise, and we completely face it, and let go, not possessing anything, there is a quality of workability and ease to our experience, even if the something that comes is not so pleasant. We can be with it, if we are willing to be present and let things come and let things go.

We realize that we don't really possess anything. Trying to possess always causes some pain. The breath comes and goes. We don't own it. It is not ours. The breath breathes us.

When we lose track of ourselves, we come back. On the very next breath, we pay attention again. As we sit in this way, little by little, we relax. We profoundly relax, because we feel the inherent benevolence in life coming and going within us. There is a kind of generosity that is inherent in just allowing things to arise and pass away naturally. When we let our awareness merge with and cooperate with this flow of being, it feels like we are opening up the hand of thought, opening up the heart, opening up and untying the emotional knots, and letting the basic benevolence and generosity of spirit be free. Not standing in the way of it, as we breathe in and breathe out with openness and ease.

Norman gives his second talk on Mindfulness to the Metta Institute on the Fourth Foundation of Mind...Zoketsu Norman Fischer, 04/12/14

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